Maikel Franco to make his MLB debut tonight

After much clamor and debate over whether top Phillies prospect Maikel Franco should be called up for the last month of the Phillies regular season, it all ended Monday when he was promoted from Phillies AAA-affiliate Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs.

Franco's promotion and season's struggles have been widely reported on in many outlets, among them ESPN, Baseball Prospectus, Matt Winks and Philly.com. He will debut in the Phillies lineup tonight playing third and batting seventh in the lineup. He will have the pleasure of hitting in front of Freddy Galvis, who is filling in for Chase Utley tonight. Talk about putting your top-third base prospect in a position to succeed!

I haven't watched many Phillies games this season, and the team hasn't given me all much of a reason to do so. Tonight, however, we will finally get to see a young player try to showcase his talents for a team that is not going to make the playoffs. There have been so few moments like this in the past 10 years. We can all remember Domonic Brown in 2010, but how about a top prospect before that? How about after that? (Oh, grow up. Even our own prospectologists Cormican and Jay were debating if it was a good idea to bring up Ken Giles earlier this year. - Wet Luzinski.*) That's why tonight's significant enough for me to tune in and watch. Forget about all the pain this team has caused you this past season, just enjoy baseball and watch a talented young player try to make a lasting impression.**

*It was.

**The proposition bar bet will be: "Betcha $20 this kid hits a homer before he draws a walk."